German Stuka toy airplanes overcame specter of war

One of the lasting images of World War II is that of a Luftwaffe dive-bomber strafing and attacking civilians who were fleeing cities under attack by German invaders.

This aircraft, widely known as the “Stuka,” was the Junkers Ju-87. It actually was one of several Stuka designs of the period that included as the Heinkel He 118, and Henschel’s Hs 123 and Ha 137. “Stuka” is a word derived from the German Sturzkampfflugzeuge, meaning “dive ground attack aircraft.”

The Junkers design became the standard Stuka after the prototype and several Ju-87A variants were tested and improved during combat with the Condor Legion in Spain in 1937 and 1938. After some further major modifications, the production version, the Junkers Ju-87B, led the aerial attacks during the 1939 invasion of Poland and subsequent conquering of most of Europe. It provided very effective “aerial artillery” support to the rapidly advancing German ground units during the infamous blitzkrieg tactics.

Its now-familiar feature of a cranked gull wing was designed to enable the center mounted bomb load to be released and not come into contact with the aircraft’s propeller. It had an exceptionally strong fixed gear undercarriage able to operate from unimproved fields near the front lines. Another innovation was the use of an usual device that automatically recovered the aircraft after bomb release, in case the pilot blacked out under the 6G-plus force encountered on the pullout of the attack run.

The Ju-87 was crewed by a pilot and a rear-gunner equipped with a twin 7.92mm machine gun. Some variants had an air-powered siren that screamed fiercely during dives to terrorize its victims, perhaps one of the first attempts at modern psychological warfare.

The confidence gained by the Junker Stuka’s performance with the Condor Legion and later during the invasion of Poland emboldened the Luftwaffe, but obscured a major operational flaw that was revealed only when the JU-87 became engaged in aerial combat in contested combat zones where the Luftwaffe had lost aerial superiority. The Stuka was a slow, heavy and hard-to-maneuver aircraft, with little defensive armament. With its poor agility, it became easy prey for Allied fighters. After rapidly suffering outrageous losses, especially during the Battle of Britain, it was pulled from the European theater to be used thereafter in areas of combat where German air superiority was still assured.

The Ju-87G variants were a further modification developed for close-in air support and antitank roles not requiring a dive-bombing capability and went on to serve with success for a time in the Eastern Front with Russia and in the North African campaigns. These early achievements were swiftly overshadowed as their enemies gained air superiority and inflicted catastrophically heavy loses to the Stuka fleet.

Obsolete as a ground support weapon by 1943, the Stuka Ju-87 continued to serve in one little-known capacity since its early days, that of an antishipping dive-bomber. This was perhaps the most successful and enduring role it played in the war. Credited with sinking the HMS Juno, the HMS Bittern, the HMS Afridi, the French destroyer Bison, and even severely damaging the HMS Illustrious, Stukas also played a key part in the Dunkirk exodus by sinking more than 40 ships. The Stuka was in its prime in this role, and by the end of World War II, more than 5,700 Stukas of all variants had been produced.

By the mid 1930s, many German toy companies such as Tipp Co., Lehmann, Marklin, Elastolin, and Lineol were producing vehicles, trains and accessories, airplanes, boats, figures and mechanical toys. As the German war machine started its European conquests, many of these firms added military toys to their lines.

Tipp Co. made several wonderful aircraft toys in large scale including Henschel Hs-123 biplanes and Hs-126 monoplanes, along with a later, more modern, single-engine fighter, the Heinkel 100, and even an accurate rendition of a Junkers Ju-52 trimotor transport/bomber.

DUX, however was the only firm known to make toys of the more infamous Junkers Ju-87B Stuka and even the Messerschmitt 109. Dux probably started manufacturing these toys around 1938, as the aircraft became operational and successful in combat at this time. These toys were so well made that it may surprise collectors to know that they all were originally issued in boxed constructor sets. Remarkably accurate models of the actual aircraft in full military colors, they were reproduced in approximately 1:48 scale.

The Ju-87 B set had pressed-tin pieces that were easily put together and featured movable control surfaces, dive brakes, accurate German military markings and a two-color camouflage on the top surfaces with a sky blue underside. The canopy was accurately molded and, unusual for any toy aircraft, it also featured a tin radio antenna post with string attaching to the vertical tail. The main landing gear has accurately designed aerodynamic wheel “pants” and depicts the large B-model engine oil cooler accurately as designed, even going so far as to replicate the light color that made it easier to detect oil leaks on the actual airplane.

German toy production continued well past the dates when the United Kingdom prohibited toy production. Surprisingly, it was only in 1943 that the German government decreed toy production be stopped.

Few German DUX Ju-87 toys from this period have survived, and in most instances, the Nazi symbol has been removed from both sides of the vertical tail surfaces, or they’re missing parts of the various movable control surfaces. Following the war, the German government prohibited the sale of any item bearing the Nazi swastika, so most examples, if they came to market, had their wartime markings either painted over or scratched away.

While the DUX Ju-87 was not produced in Germany after the war, the Messerschmitt 109 was issued by DUX for a short time, but in a colorful, invented civilian design, in an attempt to hide its heritage as one of the best fighters of World War II. Few wartime examples exist today and the postwar civilian one is considered extremely scarce.

Oddly, in France built-up examples of the Stuka toy occasionally can still be found, although original, unbuilt, boxed constructor sets remain scarce. What is unusual about the toys found in France is that they carry the French military markings. Closer inspection reveals that some of these have parts with the DUX logo stamped on them, others have a mix of DUX and JEP markings on the pieces or are completely all JEP marked.

JEP is an acronym for Jouets de Paris, a French toy firm founded in 1920 that, by the 1930s, was well known for its accurate lithographed-tin reproductions of speedboats, trains, train accessories, complex large-scale vehicle makes such as Citroen, Rolls-Royce, Renault, Hispano Suiza; and aircraft such as the Dewotine D27 and the seaplane. Little history of the DUX firm can found, but it is known that several constructor sets of cars along with its aircraft toys were issued prior to World War II.

Frederic Marchand, a Parisian toy historian, antique toy dealer and author of several books on tin toys, may have ascertained the reason why some of the Stukas’ parts say “DUX” while others are marked “JEP.” Marchand explained: “After the war Germany made war reparations to France and the full inventory of the DUX toy company’s Stuka parts and tooling was part of this transfer. The items were then used by JEP to reproduce the toy immediately after the war. When the inventory of DUX parts became exhausted, JEP made new ones with its own logo.”

Rumors persist of a British variant made by JEP for export, and Marchand added, “Yes, I have heard of a version in British military markings, but haven’t seen one.”

While this war reparation explanation may be a reasonable one and has been often repeated, no records of any formal agreement for war reparations to France expressly mentioning toy manufacture can be confirmed. Germany was a different story, however. The purpose of the Potsdam Conference, held during the summer of 1945, was the reorganizing of the German economy by dismantling of heavy industry and decentralizing the economy. It placed primary emphasis on agriculture and light domestic industries to seek export markets, and specifically mentioned toy manufacturing.

The attendees of the conference wanted to avoid the mistake of exacting the onerous reparations that were defined in the Versailles Treaty ending World War I. This humiliating act, and the associated financial burden it placed on the postwar economy, is considered today as one of the primary causes of the rise of the National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party, and the start of World War II.

The Stuka toy first appeared in the JEP catalogue in 1945, only months following the end of the war, and it rapidly became a popular one in France. This may have been due to a paucity of toys on the market immediately following the end of the war or perhaps the fact that the French Air Force flew captured Stukas after the war for a short time until more modern aircraft could replace it, creating interest with French children. It is still surprising that such an infamous aircraft used by an invading army became such a banal plaything.

The DUX firm survived intact and went on to make some well-known toys in the 1950s and ’60s such as the circa-1964 Astroman robot, the popular Condor flying helicopter, a variety of vehicle constructor sets, and many small-scale toy vehicles. JEP, which had revived the Stuka, continued to produce the infamous aircraft toy until 1966 – almost 30 years from its introduction in Germany. Both DUX and JEP ceased operations in the late 1960s.